tearaway
/ˈtɛːrəweɪ
/noun British
A person who behaves in a wild or reckless manner: some young tearaways set fire to the house...
- Bashir Ahmed is urging police chiefs to ‘get tough’ with young tearaways after the firebomb was hurled at his car parked on the drive of his home in Torbay Close, Deane.
- Earlier the vigilantes - who've not been named publicly - had declared war on young tearaways saying they were ‘prepared to do time to stop them.’
- Officials in the government's new ‘respect unit’ are drawing up the package of measures to tackle young tearaways and ‘neighbours from hell’.
Synonyms
hooligan, hoodlum, ruffian, lout, rowdy, roughneck;
Australian larrikin
informal tough, bruiser, yahoo
British informal rough, yob, yobbo, bovver boy, lager lout, chav, hoodie
Scottish informal radge
Scottish & Northern English informal keelie, ned
Australian/New Zealand informal roughie, hoon